[AMA] Plus

[Plus]

Well not anything, but most things :o

This Ask Me Anything (AMA) thread is a resource provided to you by the Smogon Mentorship Program. In it, feel free to ask this mentor about anything you'd like. They're most prepared to answer Smogon-related questions, but don't be afraid to ask them about their personality and life outside of this site. Have some patience when you post a question in this thread; it will likely take the mentor a few days to reply. If you're looking for our up-to-date list of mentors, check out our Mentor Profiles onsite. Read through their relevant information below, and enjoy!

Username: Plus

Areas of Expertise: Rate My Team, Mentorship Program!

Background: Started competitive Pokemon in early 07, made an account in 2008 to contribute in the CAP Project. Eventually I led the creation of Colossoil, CAP 9 Gen IV. Along the way I've met many wonderful people on this website, and began to expand my horizons on Smogon around 09 when I first became a Tutor for Battling 101. From there, I began to rate teams, write articles for The Smog, and other various things for the site. I left this site in 2010 after my first year of high school to focus more on other things, but I'm back and I'm fresher than ever.

Hobbies: Rap Music, watching basketball. I also enjoy Phoenix Wright and a bunch of other video games besides Pokemon if you'd like to ask me about them.

Favorite Pokemon: Krokorok

Good Questions to Ask Me: Teambuilding help, team rating help, battling stuffs, how to get involved in RMT, etc. Though if you're asking for help building a currently WIP team, you should probably contact me elsewhere b/c I don't wanna write too much and working together realtime on IRC or something would be best

 

[tab]

whats your favourite fuzznip quote?

how good a lyricist am i?

which incarnation of franky did you prefer; black or yellow?

describe vashta in at most 100 words, making sure to reference at least two historical events in the process of doing so

 

[Ryan Beck]

i want to make a cloyster that rapid spins and sets up entry hazards, is that a good idea? how should i go about do this?

 

[bro fist]

how bout them knicks?

 

[Plus]

whats your favourite fuzznip quote?

My favorite one apart from the toilet seat one is probably "omg he called me jizznip". I don't remember who actually called him jizznip, it was probably Gen because he was such a massive dick to Fuzznip at the time and I personally found it hilarious to how dramatic he was about the whole namecalling :D

how good a lyricist am i?

you pretty hm02 fly
for a white guy
For a brit you mighty spry
pokemon xy
but for real tho that fuzznip rap was dope no lie

which incarnation of franky did you prefer; black or yellow?

Obviously I prefer yellow franky, he was much more relatable when he was asian than when he was black. Of course, we all know now that franky's an enigma, then again he could always be another pasty white kid who knows. But franky's my bro regardless, easily the chillest dude I've met here.

describe vashta in at most 100 words, making sure to reference at least two historical events in the process of doing so

Well, I know he’s black and he’s a Brit and he plays basketball… and that’s about it. He also had a habit of naming a bunch of his RMTs on songs. I think he pioneered the “naming wall-o-text rmts after obscure song from white guys who wear ball-constricting pants” movement, though his RMTs were obviously miles better than the shit you see today. But hey, he’s black, so his cajones are probably larger than sprinkles' when Jerome Garchomp spilled the beans to his dad on FB. What do I know. All my knowledge of Brits can be attributed to this video.

i want to make a cloyster that rapid spins and sets up entry hazards, is that a good idea? how should i go about do this?

Hi, welcome to Smogon.

Cloyster's a pretty bad Rapid Spinner considering how entry hazards weak it is. That Ice-typing is doing it no favors -- you're taking 25% to switch-in from Stealth Rock, and that's also factoring in no Spikes. It's not a very good entry hazard setter either because it has such an awful defensive typing, and its special bulk is completely laughable. And even if you wanted to go the suicide entry hazard / spinner role, Custap Forretress and Skarmory are infinitely better at this role. I'm going to assume we're talking XY -- so for Spinners I'd generally put Excadrill and Forretress at the top, while for entry hazards Forretress, Skarmory, Greninja, and Ferrothorn are good for Spikes.

If you must insist on using Cloyster, I'd recommend just going the Shell Smash sweeping route. But that still needs quite a bit of support, so I'd surround it with a Spinner / Defogger, something that can handle things like Ferrothorn, Rotom-W, Jelli, Tentacruel, Azumarill, and priority users like Scizor. These are all pretty common in the metagame.

how bout them knicks?

Oh my god man I want to smash my head into a wall every time I see JR Smith jack up a retarded shot. It was okay last season because there was a stretch where he was actually driving to the hoop and making plays, but he's completely cold, he's somewhat injured, and still continues to chuck up shots while Mike Woodson is letting him play minutes over Shumpert and Hardaway Jr.

The roster is pretty shitty compared to last year too; maybe it looks exaggerated because Tyson Chandler is out, but I guess if you have no legitimate backup for Center then you really can't complain. As for the bench players, if MWP took smarter shots I'd probably give him the benefit of the doubt, but Woodson needs to adjust that rotation a bit. I'd love to see Pablo play some more minutes, and he's really gotta cut down JR Smith's playing time so he can recover from his injury and so Shumpert and Hardaway can improve. Amare has been a complete eyesore apart from that decent game he had yesterday, but it was against the Nets so who cares. Speaking of Amare, I feel absolutely terrible for him -- and as much as I love my Knicks, he really has to retire if the Knicks want any shot in the next two years to make some moves. But he's practically earning like 10 million or some shit for doing absolutely nothing, so why would he.

I've gotten used to Melo isos over the past few years, but I'm really starting to get pissed off because he's at his career worst right now in FG%. Last night when he ran the pick and roll with Amare, I think I shed a tear of joy. Melo is actually a decent passer, but he takes way too many difficult shots most of the time and absolutely freezes the Knicks offense. And every time when he tries to make a game winning shot I want to throw my remote out the window because I KNOW he's not going to make it. Last time he made a game winner was when? The Bulls in 2012? After that, he's missed every game winning shot, and is STILL labeled a clutch shooter. Clutch shooter my ass.

I sure hope the Knicks don't trade Shumpert, but knowing the front office that'll most likely happen. And if we get some scrub like Dion Waiters I'm going to flip a shit.

I also enjoy hearing the drama around the Knicks, and I love hearing MWP stories -- I think he's the funniest thing to happen to the Knicks in a while. Arguing over Kenyon Martin over...pasta? That's just golden. And that one time against the Pelicans where Shumpert was cursing out Melo during timeout and Woodson benched him for the rest of the game? Also golden. Melo was right when he called the Knicks the laughingstock of the NBA, because that's exactly what they are -.-

 

[muggy8]

who do you better predict your opponent

Also, I need help with my team. I've been playing around with this team so far, it seems like it's working well but loses to scizor almost all the time and sometimes loses to greninja but not since when i added thunder wave to klefki and will also often lose to gliscor. http://pastebin.com/A6Hd505y. I need a special wall that can also lift status from the team. jumpluff isn't doing it right now tho :(

So here's how the team would idealy work. Lead with klefki with spikes unless it's something dumb on their lead like greninja (answer with thunder wave) of you see a smeargle (lead with cinccino instead) after try to answer the other team and slowly harass the enemy team down until you can clean up with cinccino or gardevoir. if one of their pokemon gets setted up you can jack it with the scarfed ditto and sweep hard. dragonite and talonflame is most preferred hijack target. some simple combos with klefki ditto goes like T-wave -> swagger -> klefki dies and hijack with ditto or confusion + paralysis loves me and I can foul play. MVP of the team is definitely Mandibuzz. I'm not sure what to say it's bulky and does alot of damage with foul play and has great utility. gardevoir provides special attack coverage for the team and can answer slower most slower pokemon that tries to revenge kill it with destiny bond on top of checking common dragon threats (except for jolly garchomp cuz that thing has 2 extra base speed than mega gardevoir). also surprise HP fire.

 

[Ryan Beck]

could i use fortress as both a rapid spinner and entry hazard setup? (am i suppose to edit this into my previous post?)

 

[Plus]

who do you better predict your opponent

Going to assume that you're asking about how to predict. Prediction's all about risk versus reward. What do you gain by potentially outpredicting your opponent, and what do you lose if you fail to predict correctly? Furthermore, if you apply this same logic against your opponent, what is the probability that he will do something safe as opposed to something risky?

I'll make an example to illustrate. Imagine you have a Choice Band Talonflame in on your opponent's Forretress, and you can either Flare Blitz or Brave Bird it. He has an Azumarill waiting in the wings. If you Flare Blitz, you OHKO Forretress, but he may potentially switch to Azumarill instead and attempt to kill you with Aqua Jet. If you Brave Bird, Forretress will survive and might be able to set up Stealth Rock to hinder future Talonflame switch-ins -- but if he switches in Azumarill, it will be killed. As the Talonflame player you must be aware of the benefits and potential consequences of your move, and you have to figure out what your opponent will most likely do. Maybe you lack a spinner -- in which case, he might want to play Forretress conservatively and switch in Azumarill instead. Or maybe your whole team is wrecked by Azumarill, in which case he'd most likely sacrifice Forretress to bring in Azumarill completely healthy.

Also, I need help with my team. I've been playing around with this team so far, it seems like it's working well but loses to scizor almost all the time and sometimes loses to greninja but not since when i added thunder wave to klefki and will also often lose to gliscor. http://pastebin.com/A6Hd505y. I need a special wall that can also lift status from the team. jumpluff isn't doing it right now tho :(

So here's how the team would idealy work. Lead with klefki with spikes unless it's something dumb on their lead like greninja (answer with thunder wave) of you see a smeargle (lead with cinccino instead) after try to answer the other team and slowly harass the enemy team down until you can clean up with cinccino or gardevoir. if one of their pokemon gets setted up you can jack it with the scarfed ditto and sweep hard. dragonite and talonflame is most preferred hijack target. some simple combos with klefki ditto goes like T-wave -> swagger -> klefki dies and hijack with ditto or confusion + paralysis loves me and I can foul play. MVP of the team is definitely Mandibuzz. I'm not sure what to say it's bulky and does alot of damage with foul play and has great utility. gardevoir provides special attack coverage for the team and can answer slower most slower pokemon that tries to revenge kill it with destiny bond on top of checking common dragon threats (except for jolly garchomp cuz that thing has 2 extra base speed than mega gardevoir). also surprise HP fire.

Swagplay is an inconsistent strategy that is heavily dependent on luck. I can attest to this as well as several NU Mentors who have personally tried and played against the Swagplay strategy. Contact Raseri, Treecko, FireMage, tennisace, Zebraiken, Cherub Agent or my main man Fuzznip and I'm sure they'll give you a large spiel on why Swagplay isn't very good competitively in the long run. I'd probably just go Play Rough > Swagger, the Parafusion is always tempting but Play Rough provides better utility and isn't as reliant on luck for your benefit. The attack drop is always nice too.

As is Ditto, which is heavily reliant on team matchup and doesn't contribute anything synergy wise to this team. If you want to win a consistent basis, relying on Ditto isn't the best idea, because your team slot is determined solely by your opponent -- and even then, your opponent probably has a response to your Ditto. Furthermore, given the nature of Choice Scarf Ditto, if your opponent has a set up sweeper waiting in the wings, it could very well be set up bait. Lets say you transformed into a Garchomp and attempted to Outrage. You've just given Aegislash a free turn to Swords Dance on the incoming turn.

Jumpluff isn't that great either, it's 100% sitting duck unlike its other Grass-type friends like Ferrothorn, Breloom, Roserade, Venusaur, Gourgeist, and also Trev. You'd much rather have offensive utility than pure "annoying" Pokemon -- just because a Pokemon is "annoying" doesn't make it necessarily good. Lots of "annoying" Pokemon are usually annoying because they stall for turns, and that's about it.

Given the roles of Gardevoir and Cinccino, Gengar and Kangaskhan would be much better choices simply because they are stronger and have much more sweeping potential. Gengar with Life Orb and Shadow Ball / Sludge Wave / Focus Blast / Destiny Bond accomplishes the "hit-hard, Destiny Bond for a 2 for one scenario" thing better simply because it's faster and has better immunities and coverage, while Mega Kangaskhan is an absolute beast who can sweep teams in a pinch if you bring it in on a weakened Pokemon so you have an opportunity to Power Up Punch.

No Stealth Rock on this team is a bad idea. This is especially concerning when you have ZERO fire resists, meaning CB Talonflame can waltz in and spam Flare Blitz left and right. If you get rid of Ditto or Jumpluff, you could easily run something like a Ferrothorn, Mamoswine, or at least something that can still attack while setting up Stealth Rock.

TL;DR is this: Focus less on annoying your opponent, that doesn't always equate to wins. It might equate to ragequits, but that's about it. Get some Pokemon like Kanga and Gengar who love Spikes support and hit like trucks, then get some more solid supporting Pokemon that can lay out Stealth Rock and can actually contribute something synergy wise to this team.

could i use fortress as both a rapid spinner and entry hazard setup? (am i suppose to edit this into my previous post?)

Yes. Use http://www.smogon.com/forums/forums/ou-analyses.255/ that link and ctrl+f for some ideas for xy sets. It's prebank so if you're planning on Pokebank they might be a little off, but these sets generally have the right idea.

If you two have any more questions feel free to PM me or any other OU Mentor on this site.

 

[Fuzznip]

Hi broskie, I come bearing questions.


Will you start participating in major tournaments more often?

What's the worst aspect of the RMT forum and why?

What's your favourite memory from Doug's CAP server?

Which CAP veteran do you miss the most?

How did you come up with Plusbus?

What interested you in rapping?

Who's your inspiration?

What do you plan on doing with your life?


Have a good one broskie.

 

[Plus]

Hi broskie, I come bearing questions.


Will you start participating in major tournaments more often?

Gonna make an effort. I enjoyed playing in WCOP for US East and US Metro. did you 6-0 in the preliminaries like me???? no? ok then you can shut the fuck up thanks.

Laurel joke aside, I've been turned off by Tournaments simply because of how bad the culture is there -- it's been pretty bad even when I joined but it's gotten progressively worse. But I'm going to try my best and keep all that crap and trashtalk out of my head this time around. SPL was pretty fun when I played in the first season for the Firebot Charmanders, jumpluff and MoP made my experience there worthwhile for what little time we actually gave a shit about competing. We had Eternal, AM, and a bunch of other old farts who were pretty decent in their own right. I still think we could have made the playoffs that season if we gave more of an effort, but I'm looking past that and hopefully I'll get picked this season.

What's the worst aspect of the RMT forum and why?

Worst aspect? I'm pretty sure the worst aspect is and always has been the amount of RMT threads that lack more than 3 lines of description, or the RMT threads that are mono-teams and absolutely have no merit in the competitive field. For official team raters and team rater moderators, the decline of quality of the forum has made everyone a bit more bitter towards newcomers simply because they can't follow basic rules. All newbies have to start somewhere though. Lots of people in the TR community also feel that there's been a lack of quality team raters for the site but that's not nearly as big of a problem as the influx of newcomers whose threads need to be locked.

But honestly there's not much you can do about it other than redirecting newbies to Battling 101 or the Mentorship Forum. I've personally tried to make an effort in building more of a relationship between these three forums and I hope things can improve by next year. One thing that I want to see happen (but still hasn't @____@) is having RMT mods link to Mentorship or Battling 101 if they lock a person's thread for lacking description or being uncompetitive. Seriously, it isn't that hard, just make a template post for locking threads lol. And the only reasoning I've heard against it is "lol wat do mentors even do". And I say this: they help people. Maybe they'd do more helping if people actually redirected them to the right place! =)

What's your favourite memory from Doug's CAP server?

Favorite memory is probably when I won the Playtesting title for CAP 7, Kitsunoh. Sub WoW Kitsunoh was and still is the shit. Ladder wasn't particularly challenging but I do remember some people who were decent like Stellar and Axe (hmm i wonder who that is!!) and Beej. I liked having a bold custom title and at the time I felt like it was really big accomplishment. Looking back I was probably a huge dick and a bit abrasive, but I don't regret any of it because I had a blast for the 3 or so years I spent there.

Which CAP veteran do you miss the most?

Probably Magmortified, haven't talked to him in nearly 4 years and I've at least talked to Beej within the past 2 years. I have no way of contacting Mag and at least I can still FB message Beej, though we are a bit distant now. I still loved making team PMS with him and topping all 5 spots on the ladder with him and Beej though!

How did you come up with Plusbus?

My best friend's name irl is Gus, people just called him the Gusbus. So I stole his thunder and thus plusbus wus born. He still talks shit to me b/c I stole it from him! If you remember Minus on the CAP server, that was him! I stole his thunder so he stole mine.

What interested you in rapping?

If I had to be 100% serious, I know I'm not a rapper lol. I'm a scrawny ass asian kid who just likes listening to rap music. Rapping is kind of my gimmick now I guess, I like rap lyrics and I can sometimes make up rap lyrics on the spot. I just enjoy the flow of rap and its deep seated urban roots. My friend Tacho introduced me to lots of rappers back in 2008 and I pretty much just stuck with it. He was the original black Pokemon player, everyone else can go suck it.

Who's your inspiration?

Nujabes! Another person who Tacho introduced me to, he wasn't a rapper but a DJ who made some of the illest beats I ever did hear. I think it was back in 2008 when I first listened to him -- I recently finished watching Samurai Champloo which still remains my favorite anime to this day, and the soundtrack was chalkfull of his beats. If I'm ever having a tough day I'll just lie down and listen to his stuff for about an hour.

Other inspirations include my main n199@ Bass who taught me how to win and play like a champion. And of course Fuzznip, who i started from da bottom with.

What do you plan on doing with your life?

Currently planning on doing something in the Advertising field in NYC. I'll probably apply for an internship this summer or maybe even this winter, who knows. I do know that I want to stay in the East Coast, I like the city but I also like going home once in a while to visit my parents who are easily the most chillest Asian parents you ever did see. That's all I have planned, I'll let the wind take me wherever it blows. =)

Have a good one broskie.

fuzznip :D

 

[Hawaii 117]

Hello could you possibly help with teaching me compettitve battling?

 

[Plus]

Hello could you possibly help with teaching me compettitve battling?

Sure, shoot me a PM on here or join #mentor on IRC whenever I'm around. If Skype is your preferred method then we can also do that (just message me details and we can work something out).

 

[Andy Snype]

Where do you want to go for dinner tomorrow night? Is Aldaron welcome to join?

 

[Plus]

Where do you want to go for dinner tomorrow night? Is Aldaron welcome to join?

idk ihop? it reopened lol

also dude there's a buffalo wild wings opening on 46 on the 27th. first 100 ppl get free wings for a year. camp out with me y/y

and I'd be down for some denville dairy with aldaron n e day :o

 

[sander11]

Hi good luck man and thanks for sharing this post with us.

 

[ToWriteLove]

New here! Trying to get into competitive play more, and was hoping you could assist with team-building. ^^ I have been trying to use quite a few options, also have been stuck in trying to use Mon's that are my favorite of course. -.- (Dragonite, Goodra, Umbreon, Vaporeon, Reuniclus, Mawile, Blastoise, and Kabutops being favorites) Obviously can't make one using them, or even close to some necessarily, just the ones I have been trying to at least use two from, but not a big deal if not. Any opinions/assistance is useful as far as building is concerned, also trying to get enlisted in Battling 101 for teaching.

 

[Plus]

New here! Trying to get into competitive play more, and was hoping you could assist with team-building. ^^ I have been trying to use quite a few options, also have been stuck in trying to use Mon's that are my favorite of course. -.- (Dragonite, Goodra, Umbreon, Vaporeon, Reuniclus, Mawile, Blastoise, and Kabutops being favorites) Obviously can't make one using them, or even close to some necessarily, just the ones I have been trying to at least use two from, but not a big deal if not. Any opinions/assistance is useful as far as building is concerned, also trying to get enlisted in Battling 101 for teaching.

A big problem with a lot of new 'competitive' players is using their favorites versus using competitive mons. I obviously can't force you to play the game a certain way; it's a game after all. But the premise of competitive battling is you use what wins. Still, I'd say those Pokemon are pretty viable in OU in their own right save for Umbreon and Vaporeon.

I would recommend you check out the Usage Statistics under OU and the Preview Index for a good idea on what's common in the metagame, what works in the metagame, and what sets you can use for certain Pokemon. This is a good start for teambuilding.

When you get more experienced with teambuilding, you're going to want to start building teams off a strategy. You'll know which strategies work and which ones do not from experience in battling competitively, and that's usually the biggest problem with newbies to competitive battling. They'll employ a bad strategy like Perish Song + Protect for a ridiculously frail Pokemon but it usually doesn't work in practice. You'll find that some of the most efficient strategies revolve around a set up sweeper, a core of defensive or offensive pokemon that work well together, spikestacking strategies, voltturn, just to name a few.

After you have a strategy in mind, just use Pokemon that help fulfill this goal. If you're building with a DD Charizard-X sweep in mind, run a spinner to keep it healthy late-game. Then, run Pokemon that beat the bulky water-types that give it trouble, and run some Pokemon that can lure out Pokemon that give Charizard the opportunity to set up. For example, something to lure in Skarmory so you can bring in Charizard and set up afterwards. If you're building around a strategy based on wearing down your opponent, you want Pokemon that can switch back and forth with each other (Jelli/Heatran/Ferro was a good example of this last generation) and get some entry hazard support in there. Run status moves, roar users, and make sure you can last long with recovery.

You've probably heard these types of strategies classified under things like Hyper Offense / Bulky Offense / Balance / Stall etc. You build these types of teams with different mindsets depending on your strategy. You wouldn't care as much about defensive resistances in Hyper Offense than you would in Balance or Stall, for example. Again, you'll get a feel of this once you get your hands dirty in competitive battling. Experience is the best form of help when it comes to teambuilding because you get a feel of what works, and what could be a revolutionary new set.

 

[Player-0]

What are important things to take into consideration other than common threats when building an offensive or defensive core, respectively, in any tier? I have recently been having more success using cores, so I want to really figure out what separates the good from the bad and why that is.

 

[Frizy]

hi plus =)

what was your favourite cap meta?
do you think cap started going downhill with krilowatt?
what brought you back to smogon?

 

[Plus]

What are important things to take into consideration other than common threats when building an offensive or defensive core, respectively, in any tier? I have recently been having more success using cores, so I want to really figure out what separates the good from the bad and why that is.

It depends on the utility of the individual Pokemon, and what I mean by that is that each individual core member has to contribute something significant to your team. I'll give an example from way back in generation IV when I started competitive, this was pre-Platinum. Gyarados + Electivire was a very common combination, as Electivire was hyped to be an amazing partner to Gyarados because it could switch into Electric-type attacks and use its coverage to hit the majority of OU for super effective damage. However, Electivire soon started to drop in usage after people realized that Electivire wasn't that good after all. It doesn't hold up its end of the bargain compared to Gyarados, simply because Electivire was just...bad. Its coverage moves were rather weak, it couldn't get past the really bulky teams, and without Motor Drive it was too slow to sweep efficiently. It was dependent on Gyarados to lure in Electric-type attacks, and sometimes that's not always going to happen. Cores pretty much have to DO something to make it a good core, and this is usually seen through things like team support or being able to threaten different Pokemon offensively.

hi plus =)

what was your favourite cap meta?
do you think cap started going downhill with krilowatt?
what brought you back to smogon?

Hi Frizy!!!!

Favorite CAP meta was probably the one where DD Pyroak was finally introduced. I believe that was after Krilowatt and before Voodoom. I remember this one really fun team I had with Gyarados/Pyroak/Colossoil/Shaymin/Blissey/Salamence, it won me a shit ton of matches back in the day. And I love it so much I'll explain the team now!

Gyarados was the lead and wrecked the crappy Fidgit leads as well as the common slow leads like Hippowdon and Swampert. With Protect, it was able to force 50/50s with Metagross and Heatran, even Azelf. In the case of Starmie or Stratagem, you'd go to Blissey. Blissey looked odd on that team but it was the catch-all to all the special threats in CAP, mainly Stratagem and Cyclohm who were so prominent in that metagame. It had Healing Wish so you could sweep teams with Salamence or Pyroak depending on the situation. I ran CB Mence (which 2HKOed even +1 Revenankh) and Charti DD Oak (great for setting up on Stratagem). Colossoil was the entry hazards control with Rebound (fuck Magic Bounce lol) and found its niche as a revenge killer in clutch situations as well. I had Shaymin in there to deal with Arghonaut a little bit better, as I always brought in Pyroak late game, and even then Unaware lets Arghonaut mess with it one on one.

I also liked the metagame before Kitsunoh where there were only 6 CAP Pokemon. At that time people were raving about how stall was so dominant in CAP, but honestly CAP Offense was just as good. It just didn't use as many CAPs as CAP stall. And people usually said that if you're not using many CAPs, you're doing it wrong. That might be true today as I don't really play CAP at all anymore, but back then you had legitimate ways to shit on CAP stall. I remember that one team I made with Beej and Magmortified that topped the ladder multiple times when CAP stall was at its peak; it only had lead Stratagem as its only CAP, but we used things like Selfdestruct Snorlax and Zen Headbutt Metagross to break down stall cores easily.

CAP did indeed start going downhill after Krilowatt. It kind of lost its magic partially because some of the users left at that time, I guess I'm a bit biased in that sense but after those guys left I never found CAP to be my home anymore. Guys like Fuzznip, Mag, and Beej were what made my experience at CAP so great. I can't say much for the metagame because I didn't even touch Voodoom with a 20 yard stick. I believe by then I already called it quits.

What brought me back to Smogon? It was right after AP Testing my senior year of high school, and it was pretty much over for me. For once in my four years of high school, I literally had nothing that I wanted to do. I missed the days of old back in 08-09 when I met many of my Pokemon friends, many of which I still talk to today. Infact, I currently share an apartment with an old CAP user, cyberzero! It's embarrassing to admit, but it seems that Smogon did infact have a significant impact on my life.

But yeah, I was bored as hell, I decided to ladder a bit on Showdown, I went browsing on the forums after I had heard they wanted to ban Landorus-I, and I noticed that I had already made requirements. I was posting in the CAP facebook group that I had made reqs, and lo and behold, Fuzznip said that he was laddering too! We decided to get back into the groove of things, and here we are now, stronger than ever.

 

[Player-0]

It depends on the utility of the individual Pokemon, and what I mean by that is that each individual core member has to contribute something significant to your team. I'll give an example from way back in generation IV when I started competitive, this was pre-Platinum. Gyarados + Electivire was a very common combination, as Electivire was hyped to be an amazing partner to Gyarados because it could switch into Electric-type attacks and use its coverage to hit the majority of OU for super effective damage. However, Electivire soon started to drop in usage after people realized that Electivire wasn't that good after all. It doesn't hold up its end of the bargain compared to Gyarados, simply because Electivire was just...bad. Its coverage moves were rather weak, it couldn't get past the really bulky teams, and without Motor Drive it was too slow to sweep efficiently. It was dependent on Gyarados to lure in Electric-type attacks, and sometimes that's not always going to happen. Cores pretty much have to DO something to make it a good core, and this is usually seen through things like team support or being able to threaten different Pokemon offensively.

Well Electivire still covered gyarados weaknesses didn't it? How much should a player expect out of a core? You still have 4 other slots don't you? From everything I read this part seems to be the part to be shrouded in the most mystery.

 

[Plus]

Well Electivire still covered gyarados weaknesses didn't it? How much should a player expect out of a core? You still have 4 other slots don't you? From everything I read this part seems to be the part to be shrouded in the most mystery.

Gyarados's weaknesses were more of Stealth Rock, bulky waters, and Celebi, Rotom-A didn't come until Platinum. And even then Rotom easily beat Electivire with Will-o-Wisp, so no, it really wasn't that simple. Maybe my example was a bit confusing, basically you want to use good Pokemon in a core. And as obvious as that may sound, lots of time people use Pokemon that despite having some sort of synergy with another Pokemon, really can't hold their weight most of the time in battle. Electivire is an example of that because it was just pretty dismal as an individual Pokemon. But enough about Electivire, he sucks ass and that's that x)

As for your second question, the concept of core is a bit blurry, because there are different types of cores due to different strategies. Jelli/Ferro/Heatran is a good entry hazards core because you have Spikes + SR + Spinblocking while having the ability to switch back and forth rather freely. Rotom-W + Scizor is a common voltturn core because they can threaten different offensive Pokemon and rack up chip damage. A core is a core because a set of Pokemon often benefit off each other moreso than with others, and that's really about it. I wouldn't stress too much about defining it any stricter than that, because as long as you build teams based off a strategy effectively, you're bound to have a "core" of Pokemon that benefit off each other whether you are subconsciously thinking about it or not. It's just that sometimes people want to put labels on combinations they find common in the metagame really.

If you have any more questions feel free to PM me or any other OU Mentor for that matter.

 

[baldoctopus]

Hi Plus I had a question about team building and synergy. I know what I'm doing when it comes to battling and pokemon in general but I have absolutely no idea what to do when it comes to team building.

What is synergy and how do you find it? I know that it's pokemon that cover each other's weaknesses and I know that you can just look that up but what makes Heatran and Gastrodon such a great core? Why is fire/water/grass a thing? How do you pick your offensive pokemon based on your defensive pokemon? Do you need defensive pokemon? I also know about hyper offense and stall teams but when team building there's so many options for so many things and I get lost when people make decisions like these.

I know that's a lot of random questions but my biggest ones are how do you get synergy and how do you put the right offensive and defensive pokemon together? For example I know that Tangrowth can't be a wall for Salamence because of ice but it's not as simple as just putting Aggron there because it resists what would be thrown at Salamence.

Thanks

 

[MondBlack]

Can you please rate my team? http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/the-team-of-black.3496119/

 

[Plus]

Hi Plus I had a question about team building and synergy. I know what I'm doing when it comes to battling and pokemon in general but I have absolutely no idea what to do when it comes to team building.

What is synergy and how do you find it? I know that it's pokemon that cover each other's weaknesses and I know that you can just look that up but what makes Heatran and Gastrodon such a great core? Why is fire/water/grass a thing? How do you pick your offensive pokemon based on your defensive pokemon? Do you need defensive pokemon? I also know about hyper offense and stall teams but when team building there's so many options for so many things and I get lost when people make decisions like these.

I know that's a lot of random questions but my biggest ones are how do you get synergy and how do you put the right offensive and defensive pokemon together? For example I know that Tangrowth can't be a wall for Salamence because of ice but it's not as simple as just putting Aggron there because it resists what would be thrown at Salamence.

Thanks

Synergy is a measure of how effective certain Pokemon work together, and the only advice I can really give in finding it is to theorymon, throw shit at the wall afterwards, and see what will stick. Synergy isn't all about typing even though a lot of it is dependent on typing, it's really more about specific threats in the metagame that make certain cores so good. Heatran and Gastrodon isn't good just because Gastrodon is immune to water attacks -- you have to be more specific than that. Water attacks from what specifically? It's good because it can switch into Politoed and Rotom-W. And those Pokemon were common threats back in BW, and have their place in the metagame today. What makes certain cores good is their ability to check certain THREATS as opposed to types in a metagame. Thinking in terms of specific metagame threats as opposed to types makes finding synergy a lot easier. After all, we're battling with Pokemon, and not types. You're not battling just a type, you're battling a Pokemon who has four moves, a unique stat distribution, and an ability and ev spread.

As for your other questions:

If you are picking offensive Pokemon based on your defensive Pokemon, then your offensive Pokemon should be designated as your win condition. That is, a specific type of Pokemon that your defensive core can't beat. Maybe your combo of celebi and heatran can wall Blissey, but then again, you can't touch it either. This is when you would bring in an offensive Pokemon who would be able to set up on Blissey. This offensive Pokemon might have its flaws in beating bulky waters like Tentacruel or Jellicent, or maybe even steel types like Jirachi or Scizor, but at least you have Celebi and Heatran to back you up. Similar to what I said before, you pick offensive Pokemon based on what you have to beat in specific.

No, you don't have to run defensive Pokemon. You build teams based off of a strategy, not a set number of sweepers or walls or what have you. You need to establish what your primary win condition is, maybe it's a sweep from a set-up sweeper or maybe it's just wearing your opponent down with entry hazards. Do you want to be attacking more or do you want to be tanking hits more and walling things? These are questions you have to ask yourself. Maybe your offensive presence can't be maintained without a defensive backbone, and that's okay.

Any more questions you can PM me privately or any other OU mentor!